Neurological unit



J. R. NEWSTEDT ETAL 2,315,160

March 30, 1943;

NEUROLOGICAL um T Filed June 12, 1942 INVENTCR. Ja/m l2 l ewszedz Jo nMillet Patented Mar. 30, 1943 NEUROLOGICAL UNIT John Roger N ewstedt,Cincinnati, Ohio, and John Bradford Millet, Boston, Mass.

Application June 12, 1942, Serial No. 446,732

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to neurological instruments and isparticularly directed to the novel arrangement of a plurality of saidinstruments in a compact and convenient unit.

In the practice of neurology and related professions a number of basicinstruments are used to make sensory and reflex tests and observationsof persons with nervous ailments or for patients about to undergocertain surgical operations. All of these instruments are relativelysmall in proportion and are easily mislaid or lost, especially when aneurologist has a number of professional calls to make in private homes.It is therefore an object of this invention to combine all of the basicneurological instruments in a single, compact unit so that saidinstruments can be conveniently carried about on ones person and whichwill present all of said instruments at one time to the person requiringthem.

Another object of the invention is to provide a composite neurologicalunit which permits one or more of said instruments to serve as anecessary functional element for other instruments in the unit, thusgreatly simplifying the resulting structural features of said unit.

Other objects will be apparent from the following specification anddrawing, in which:

Fig. l is a front elevational view of our neurological unit, a partthereof being shown in longitudinal cross-section.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of said unit.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the instrument case, takenon line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of an esthesiometer for our unitillustrated in open position.

Fig. 5 is a general view illustrating the instrument in an operativeposition.

The neurological unit of our invention consists of a tuning fork 6having a pair of spaced, parallel prongs I and 8 which are joinedtogether at their upper common ends by means of an integral andelongated neck portion 9 disposed in the common plane of the prongs 1and 8. The lower free ends of the prongs may be provided withconventional pitch regulators H).

A percussion head II is mounted on the upper free end of the neckportion 9 and is formed of a uniform thickness throughout its transversearea and is triangularly shaped in side elevation, the upper side l2 andthe lower side l3 converging from a blunt end M of the head to a reducedimpact end I5. The head is mounted endwise on the neck 9 in the commonplane of the prongs and said neck, so that the tuning fork forms ahandle for the head, by a means comprising a ring-like mounting member16 which encircles and is in continuous engagement with the transverse,intermediate surface of the head ll. As

, shown in Fig. 2, the mounting member is elliptical in transverseelevation and is provided with an elognated opening I! for snuglyreceiving said head, a threaded lug l8 depending from said mountingmember for engagement with a threaded hole 13 formed in the upper end ofthe neck prongs of the tuning fork, the ends of said case being providedwith interior threads 23 and 24 for receiving exteriorly threadedportions on the caps 25 and 26, respectively. As most clearlyillustrated in Fig. 4, the cap 25 is split longitudinally into equalsections 21 and 28 which are rotatably fastened together by means of atrans verse pivot pin 29. This cap forms the pivot portion for theesthesiometer, said sections being provided with needles 30 and 3|whichextend from the interior surface of said cap sections,respectively. As shown in Fig. 4, the sections are provided with reducedthreaded parts which, when the esthesiometer is in closed position, forma single screw thread for engagement with the interior threads 23 on thecase. The cap 26 is provided with a brush 32 extending inwardly from itsinterior face.

It will therefore be understood that in our neurological unit the tuningfork functions as a convenient handle for the percussion head when theunit is used to elicit reflexes, such as the patellar reflex obtained bystriking the patients knee with the reduced impact end l5 of the head.The unit is also used in other neurological tests and for the purposesof these tests, as illustrated in Fig. 5, the tuning fork 6, thepercussion head H and the instrument case 22 cooperate in transmittingvibrations to certain bony prominences of a patient. In thiscircumstance the physician Will hold the upper end 25 of the case 22against a bony prominence such as ankle 33 of a patient by holding saidunit with his hand 34 around the percussion head I I. It will be notedthat the percussion head ll serves as a hand gripping element which iseasily and naturally grasped and securely held by the physician whilethe case 22 acts as a body contact member for the unit. For the purposesof these tests, vibrations are set up in the tuning fork and aretransmitted from the neck 9 of the tuning fork through the rubberpercussion head H to the case 22 and thence to the bony prominence 33.Said vibrations would not be dampened by the fingers of the physician ashe holds the instrument by the rubber percussion head, as illustrated inFig. 5.

What is claimed is:

1. A neurological unit comprising a tuning fork having a neck portionextending from one end thereof, a hand gripping element fastened in'termediate its ends to the free end of the neck portion and a reducedbody contact member mounted on and extending from the element.

2. A neurological unit comprising a tuning fork having a neck portionextending longitudinally therefrom, an elongated hand gripping elementdisposed transversely of the neck portion, means engaging anintermediate portion of the element and adapted to fasten said elementto the free end of the neck, and a reduced body contact member mountedon the element and extending longitudinally from the side of saidelementopposed to the side at which the neck is fastened to the element.

3. A neurological unit comprising a tuning fork having a neck portionextending longitudinally therefrom, an elongated hand gripping elementdisposed transversely of the neck portion, means engaging anintermediate portion of the element and adapted to fasten said elementto the free end of the neck, and 'a reduced body contact member mountedon the element adjacent the fastening means and extending longitudinallyfrom the side of said element opposed to the side at which the neck isfastened to the element.

4. A neurological unit comprising a tuning r fork having a pair ofspaced, parallel prongs, and a straight neck portion connected to commonends of said prongs and extending longitudinally therefrom, atriangularly shaped hand gripping element fastened endwise to the freeend of the neck portion, a bore formed through the blunt end of theelement in parallelism with the prongs, and an elongated body contactmember held intermediate its ends in the bore with a substantial portionof its body extending from both sides of the element.

5. A neurological unit comprising a tuning fork having a pair of spaced,parallel prongs, and a neck portion connected to common ends of theprongs, a triangularly shaped hand gripping element disposed in endwiseposition at the free end of the neck portion, a ring-like mountingmember continuously engaging the transverse, intermediate surface of theelement and having an integral threaded lug extending therefrom, athreaded hole in the upper end of the neck portion for receiving thelug, and a body contact member held intermediate its ends on the bluntend of the element.

6. A neurological unit comprising a tuning fork having a pair of spaced,parallel prongs, and a neck portion connected to common ends of theprongs, a triangularly shaped hand gripping element disposed in endwiseposition at the free end of the neck portion, a ring-like mountingmember continuously engaging the transverse, intermediate surface of theelement, a pin run transversely through the element and fastened at itsends to the opposed sides of the mounting member, an integral threadedlug extending from said member, a threaded hole in the upper end of theneck portion for receiving the lug, and a body contact member heldintermediate its ends on the blunt end of the element.

JOHN ROGER NEWS'IEDT. JOHN BRADFORD MILLET.

